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2016-04-10
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OK, so there are two English reviews of this restaurant before this one, and you shouldn't listen to either of them. donu7, who has written exactly one review, complains about the portion sizes. That complaint may have been warranted when he or she wrote that review, but as you shall see from the pictures below, the portions are extremely large.The other review, by hautecuisinehk, is simply astounding. It uses the word 'authentic' no less than 4 times, of a Mexican restaurant that has Spaghetti
The other review, by hautecuisinehk, is simply astounding. It uses the word 'authentic' no less than 4 times, of a Mexican restaurant that has Spaghetti Carbonara, Seafood Risotto, Tandoori Chicken Pizza, and Hamburgers on the menu. The reviewer seems to think that the atomic buffalo t**ds he was served are actually jalapenos rellenos and that they're the most authentic Mexican thing in HK! He also says that Cali-Mex and Little Burro are taquerias. I'm pretty sure apeing Chipotle, a global fast-food giant that serves a knockoff of a San Francisco specialty, the Mission burrito, is not what any competent user of 'taqueria' or 'taco stand' would call those things.
It's fine to review a Mexican restaurant if you know literally nothing about Mexican food. I do that all the time for Japanese restaurants, Chinese restaurants, Austrian restaurants, you name it. But don't just make up a bunch of nonsense.
Andy's Garage isn't authentic Mexican food. It's authentic gringo Tex-Mex. Like the stuff my (completely white) parents made for me growing up in Texas. It's not bad. It just rubs me the wrong way when people trash on the food of my homeland as 'inauthentic garbage' and then gush over it when someone lies to them and tells them it's "real" Mexican food. It is real. It's just from Texas.
The first thing we ordered, as an appetizer, though not on the appetizer menu, was the steak nachos. The use of steak, abundant yellow cheese, and sour cream in place of crema, are suggestive of its Tex-Mex origins. Indeed, this dish is more often called "super nachos" to distinguish it from the plainer chips-cheese-and-jalapenos variety. As far as (super) nachos go, these were pretty good. The chips weren't store-bought, which typically goes without saying, but not in HK. The cheese was certainly abundant, and while the steak didn't stand out, it at least was very tender. The portion was also enormous: not to be gotten as an appetizer, for sure.
I was surprised and disappointed when the tacos came. Even at Tex-Mex places, tacos are typically soft. Hard taco shells are what you get (a) at Taco Bell or (b) from an Old El Paso box at the grocery store. This is what I meant by the food being like the stuff my parents make. Literally only gringos eat "tacos" on hard taco shells, and they only do so in their most gringo of gringo moments. Like when the Taco Cabana is closed and you realize you have to eat at Taco Bell instead.The tacos were fine though. Way too much sour cream, for one thing. The salsa had too much of a stewed tomato flavor, but it had some noticeable spice to it, and wasn't super watery (like, y'know, the stuff at El Loco Gringo [sic], or the Old El Paso salsa my parents would buy).
We being four people used the opportunity to buy three orders of tacos, and trade them so we all could try the different ones. (We wouldn't have done this if we knew "tacos" meant "hard tacos" because I refuse to order hard tacos in a restaurant, it's embarrassing.) I ordered steak, but I wound up with one steak taco, one chipotle pork taco, and one baja fish taco after trading. I don't believe I've ever had fish on a hard taco. Anyway, I've already mentioned the steak; the fish was my least favorite, but it was inoffensive.
We also split a quesadilla. Noticeably, this is what a Mexican would call a "quesadilla gringa"-- "white people quesadilla". Chicken or steak inside? Check. American cheese? Check. Not cooked on a comal? Check. Made like a grilled cheese sandwich instead of an omelet? Check. White people quesadilla.Hey, it was pretty good. Nice and cheesy and soft, and really large. Comparable to Cali-Mex, maybe less salty. Would clog my arteries with this again.
I'm sorry to make this whole review about authenticity and technicalities. To be fair, they bill themselves as "authentic Mexican" while having the same chef from the Indian restaurant they run next door cook all the food. Still, the food here is pretty decent, in many ways better than Cali-Mex and Little Burro, but in some ways less technically competent, and with slightly less understanding of what the food should be like. I'd probably rather eat here than those places, so that says something. Not a lot though! For those keeping score, here's my current leaderboard for Mex, Tex-Mex, and questionably-related restaurants:
B+ Coyote: A reasonable facsimile of chain-restaurant Tex-Mex
B Chino: Competently executed, not quite my thing
B Brickhouse: Tacos disappoint, but the rest is nice
C+ Verde Mar: Real Mexican guy but w/ Taco Truck level food
C Andy's Garage: See above
C Xoco: A real Mexican trying to do Tex-Mex and not quite succeeding
C Cali-Mex: A halfway-competent Chipotle clone
C- Little Burro: A somewhat less-competent Chipotle clone
D El Taco Loco: Confused about what an enchilada is
D- Agave: Terrible food
F El Loco Gringo [sic]: A legitimate moral harm that should be banned by the UN
[Guide: A, excellent; B, good; C, acceptable; D, poor; F, terrible]
Other Info. :
Service here is a little slow
(The above review is the personal opinion of a user which does not represent OpenRice's point of view.)
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